Comprehensive medical treatise on therapeutics

Sultan 'Ali Khorasani. Dastur al-'ilaj [The Rule Book for Therapy].

Central Asia, [26 Jan. 1803 CE =] 2 Shawwal 1217 H.

4to (185 x 262 mm). Persian manuscript on polished, unsophisticated wove paper. (12), 282, (6) leaves. 18 lines of black and occasional red Nast'aliq within double red rules. Numerous marginal glosses in black ink. Contemporary full leather binding with blind-stamped oriental decorations to both covers.

€ 14.000,00

A comprehensive Persian-language manual of therapeutics, discussing the diseases of the various organs. The physician Sultan Ali practiced medicine for 40 years in his native Khorasan as well as in Transoxiana (Central Asia). He began writing his medical treatise "Dastur al-‘ilaj" in the year 933 AH (1526 CE) at the request of Abu al-Muzaffar Mahmud-Shah Sultan, whom he had successfully treated in Samarqand.

"The treatise consists of two sections (maqalahs), the first divided into 25 chapters (babs) concerning diseases specific to particular parts of the body. The second section, in 8 babs, is on diseases affecting the entire body and not specific to a particular part. After completing the treatise, Khurasani subsequently added an introductory essay (muqaddimah) composed of 16 chapters (babs) concerned with the preservation of health and hygiene. The introductory essay has a dedication to Abu al-Ghazi Sultan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan who ruled Samarqand from 1530 to 1533" (National Library of Medicine, online).

Leaves 253-254 bound in reverse order and upside-down after fol. 247; fol. 248 bound upside down after fol. 252, but complete. Some waterstaining to lower corner, entirely confined to margins. A few old stamps, some obliterated with correction fluid or felt-tip pen. The colophon is dated the 2nd of Shawwal 1217 AH, stating the copyist as Mirza Abdullah Tablah (reading of the last name uncertain).

Art.-Nr.: BN#60467 Schlagwörter: , , ,

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